As trucks, particularly pickup trucks, have grown in market share compared to other personal transportation vehicles, the number and type of accessories sold for use with trucks has increased. One widely used accessory used with pickup trucks is a plastic liner for the truck bed. The liner protects the bed of the truck box from dings and abrasion.
To increase the storage volume which is protected from rain and the elements on a pickup truck, toolboxes or cargo bed utility boxes are often used. Although a cargo bed utility box should meet basic functional requirements such as keeping the contents dry, organized and securely attached to the truck box, for many purchasers the appearance of the utility box is also important. For example, the appearance of a vehicle may contribute to a tradesman's reputation for neat, high quality, work.
Some pickup truck owners utilize the truck for personal transportation during the week, while using the truck's cargo transporting capability for a second job or hobby on nights or on weekends. This type of pickup truck owner is inclined to apply the appearance standards of cars to a pickup truck, further highlighting the importance of the appearance of any accessory used with a truck.
While some owners of pickup trucks who employ their trucks in their trade or business are willing to modify their trucks structurally to accommodate various storage racks and accessories, the typical consumer is reluctant to drill holes or otherwise modify their new pickup truck. There is a perception on the part of purchasers of new trucks that the immediate resale value and perhaps the long-term appearance of the vehicle might be diminished by permanent modifications to the truck even to the minimal extent of drilling holes for the mounting of attachment brackets.
Various fasteners have been developed for attaching truck bedliners to the bed of a truck without the need for modifying the truck structure. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,633 to Emery, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,040 to Edwards.
Since truck bedliners are relatively light, and have their weight distributed over the entire surface of the truck box, multiple fasteners may be used to attach the distributed weight of the bedliner to the truck box. A number of fasteners for attaching a cargo bed utility box to the bed of a truck which do not require drilling into the structure of the truck box have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,737 to Farmer, Jr., discloses a clamping arrangement which allows a utility box which overlies the side rail of a truck to be clamped to the side walls of a truck box. A similar device. shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,017 to Mullican, discloses a C-clamp like device which clamps to the front wall a truck box. A simple J-bolt can also be used to hook over the front rail of a truck box.
What is needed are additional types of brackets which can function as part of an attachment system for mounting a utility box to a truck box with or without a bedliner.